...a bit of everything

So i've just gotten back from a fantastic trip to London with the family. Monday night was spent at the Drury Lane Theatre watching 'Oliver!'. Jodie Prenger who won 'I'd Do Anything' last year was playing Nancy, [Omid Djalili] was playing Fagin (who was so funny he had me in tears at one point), and of course [Burn Gorman] who played Owen Harper in Torchwood was playing the Nasty Bill Sykes. It wasn't my favourite musical, as Les Miserables still holds that position, but i certainly enjoyed myself a great deal, and had a lot of fun singing the songs!

We spent Tuesday day at the London Dungeons, which was the second time i'd been there, Tuesday afternoon in Hamley's and then in the evening we went to a Bar and Restaurant known as [Below Zero], which has a room, bar, seats and drinking glasses made out of ice, and it was absolutely incredible. We were only allowed to spend 40 minutes in there for Health and Safety reasons, and we had to wear parkas...but i had a lot of fun in there trying to eat my glass once i'd finished my cocktail....unfortunately i didn't make much progress. But i tried!

After the 40 minutes in the bar, we went to the restaurant for accoustics night. Meal-wise, we were told to pick 2 small meals and 1 side order, before selecting our dessert...and the food was absolutely divine. Expensive....but so so good. I would recommend this place to anyone!

I can't believe it's been nearly 6 months since i've updated this journal. I can't believe we're already in May, and 2009 is nearly halfway through. Is the rest of life going to fly by at this insane pace? If it is...stop the ride - i want to get off! Lol!

I've been insanely busy these last few months, working on two courses at the same time, working (both paid and voluntary) and trying to develop a social life (and so far, i think i'm managing okay!)

★My LSA course is due to finish at the end of May, and i have a whole mountain of courswork left to go. My assessment and observation by the class teacher has yet to happen due to several postponements, and while at first i didn't mind, now with the end of the course approaching and a lot of coursework relying on said assessment, i'm starting to feel the clock ticking and the pressure building. I'm both excited and terrified at the end of this course. Excited, because it hasn't been the most mentally stimulating course, and i'm glad to see the back of boredom and courswork, and terrified because after the course is over i a.) have to look for an LSA job in a new school because the current one doesn't have any jobs going, and b.) learn to drive, which was a target i set myself once this course is over. When i said i would learn to drive in May all the way back in January, i had no idea May would swing around so fast - i'm not ready!

★My OU course on the otherhand is going incredibly well. It's called "Environmental Control and Public Health' which focuses on environmental policies and legislations, and way to improve environmental and living conditions in both the developed and developing countries (full details can be found here). While i'm not really enjoying the course, as i prefer learning about the physical world like glaciers, oceans and volcanoes, one thing that i've learnt during my studies with the OU is that the courses i don't like are the ones i do better with. The two assigments i've done with this course so far have recieved 96% and 100% respectively and while i'm estatic with the grades (i've never had grades that high since I was like 12), it leaves me wondering if the assessors actually read what i submitted - i'm telling you, they were both piles of bull$&!@.

★I managed to destroy my computer again last month, but luckily the technical minded brother was around to reformat the whole thing. I lost some stuff, but it was no-where near as emotionally devastating as losing the 500GB of photos, videos, coursework/school work and references, as when my younger brother accidently kicked and destroyed my external hard drive back in November.

★I've gotten back in touch with three old school friends, one whom i've met up with once, one whom i've met up with twice, and another i'm hoping to meet up with soon.

★And finally! I've been to London, done a Duck Tour and saw Dirty Dancing and We Will Rock You. While i preferred WWRY, i am still somewhat boggled how someone came up with such an 'out-there' story to link all the Queen songs together! That was a seriously bizarre story! But the singing was great :o)

I know i'm bad at updating this - but i think i now have a new record - nearly 4 months without updating? I've impressed myself!

I've spent the last few months working on assignments and projects (one about local municipal waste, the other about succession on sand dunes), and some of the pressure has finally lifted. Thank goodness for school summer holidays - i don't think i would have managed it if i'd had to work as well! But still, only 2 more assigments to go, then the exams. We've decided that we're going to be doing Gatecon in October - and that's the day after my final exam, so i've got something to look forward too! Colin Cunningham is attending again (Major Paul Davis), Teryl Rothery will be there (Dr. Janet Frasier) and Carmen Armensomething (who plays Jacob Carter...i can never remember his surname), so i'm quite looking forward to it! My parents are paying this time, so it means i may still be able to do Peg 3 in January.

High School Musical 2. Is it sad that as old as i am, i love a good sing-a-long and love those films? I saw 'Hairspray' earlier this week, and while i thought it was a bit too long, i loved the soundtrack - there's some really good songs on there! I also saw 'Transformers'...another love of my childhood - my brother and sister both enjoyed it, and i did too! And they both agreed that 'Rush Hour 3' was much funnier than 'The Simpsons Movie'. I'm not a big Simpson fan...but i thought the film was crap.

I got back last night from seeing Les Miserables in London on saturday...absolutely brilliant performance. They had John Owen-Jones playing Jean Valjean, who is the most amazing singer, and blows me away every time. Here is a recording of him singing 'Bring Him Home' from Les Miserables sung at the Jones, Jones, Jones concert in Cardiff a few months ago (and for those wondering - the introduction is in Welsh) which shows not only his vocal range, but his strength as well - everytime i hear him sing that song, i get shivers down my spine. The first time my mum and i saw him was in 2002, playing Valjean in London, then in 2004 we saw him quite by accident playing the role of the Phantom in the Phantom of the Opera in the West End, and this time we deliberately picked to see him again. What can i say? He's Welsh, good-looking and has a beautiful voice - what more could a girl want? ♥

This story that i'm looking for, isn't a fanfic story...i think possibly it may be a Hans Christian Anderson story...but i'm not 100% certain. Ever since Narnia came out, the name and contents of this story has been bugging me...so if anyone can help me, i would be oh, so grateful!

It has 2 children in it, possibly brother and sister, and one of the name's begins with 'G' (No it isn't Hansel and Gretel - mwah). There's an ice queen in it (ice_queen82's name has also added to the story coming back to me), who i think has a mirror which shatters into lots of pieces, and a shard of the mirror pierces the boys heart(?), and makes him the Queen's servant, and he becomes very cold hearted. I think he's given the task of finding all the mirrors pieces to fix it, but he can't find the last piece (since it's in his heart). The girl, (possibly beginning with G...Gertrude?) tries to get him to recognise her, but he doesn't care. Something happens to her, which makes the boy cry, which gets rid of the shard of mirror from him, and returns him back to normal.

Now...no-one in my family recognises the story, but i know i saw it in the theatre when i was a little girl, and consequently have the story in a book...but the book is up in the attic due to decorating, and so i cannot get a hold of it to re-familiarise myself with it. This story was a favourite of mine, and the fact i can't remember it is really doing my head in!! Help?

In other news...still not feeling very positive about work - actually sat and discussed the possibility of quitting with my mum last night, which, even though it's a very nice thought, doesn't change the fact that i have an easy job at work, what with my hours, and the jobs i do there...plus there are a lot of customers i would miss...and maybe, 4 members of staff (Helen, James, Steve and akira42)

Off to choose the London Musical i'm going to see for my birthday now!